Fruit and vegetable grader.



w. G. PALMER. y FRUIT AND VEGE'TABLE GRA-DER. v 'APPLICATION FILED OCT. 23| 1914. RENEWEQJ MAY I5. IQII.

Patented Dec. 25, 1917.

3 SHEETS-SHEET l'.

L M Il xm @lm nvm/Ton Wav/fer"I G. Palmer.

W. G. mmm.

FRUIT AND VEGETABLEYGRADER. APPLICATION FILED QCT. 23. 3914. R-ENEWED MAY 16,1917. l 1,251,093, Patented Dee; 25,1917.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 2. Q

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FRU." .QD GRER.

3,251,993. Speeiceten of Lett-ers latent. mgggq Dem '25? jb .1391 ij. ppieation led ctobe: 235 191, Seria No. 'BGSS-E. Renen'edtag i6.' mi?. Serial No. llfl, To a fwmm it may concern: 6*@ of Fig'. l, looking in the direction4 Be it known that I, WALTER G. ALMER, pointed by the arrow; and a. citizen of the Unite States, and i@resident Figs. .7 and. S eredetaiis of construction 0f Portland, Iviulijngah County", mi@ 0I" showing the particular form of conveyezI 6G G11-egon', have invemtgd a, ertnin new and bei@ WiCil i 5nd ii) COlVeien t0 use, 116i useful improvement in Fruit and iegetebie the particular 'meanswhieh find it con- G'iadei's, of which the oilowing is e speovement te use for holding the eonveyer belts caiion, in iongitudinei aiinement with the Ways. i The. obje@ of my invmion is -/O @weide The gie'din' tebie, ci, is mounted on e supe5 21o a, fruit and vegetable grades, espeeiaiiysnitporting o. The teoie is divided by able foi apples for exemple, oi' sinipie eentransvei'se strep psxuitions, o, 'into' e 'phistruction, operating to entonietiesiv grade Ialj/ O-0neeoutive commitments d, e, 4Z', the fruit es to size, to perform this were e@ eeen discharging into letemy dielfosed rapidly, and t0 agwmpiish 731@ graing ellg bins b'il Side@ 0f Che head iii Eo Without danger oi' bruising the'init. My the gsdef-ee Wovif eine g, in which invention further has for its object to so as# the iiiit oi" ne to he gra/ded is demnge the grading means that they may he posited. @n the eene, ci, sse[mountediongiadjusted es desired.' To 'this end any inveniidme l'elne members into the extijemition consists of e grading te'hie having-tiens MGS 0f W3 f-d djlbl @THIS F5 23@ verse partitions dividing the seme into coin on a, which ere journaled `secutive compartments, over which Weys exl'lhff beit (terriers @n the shaft of tend 'longitudine-ily `and side by side, the he beit @syriens j is mounted s. grooveH Wsys'ha'ving spaces between them increespniiei' 3;? conneeted oy-s @living belt i With ing toward the disons-we end of thegiader; e h m, hough the medium of the re?y 'B0 25 convey-er belts running lengthwise over the iF-10111@ geel@ '25%'7 as Shown in Fig. 2. The ways) means foy diving the, Cgnmgyer pdg-: :graine Hib' are COllleCiled by tDS-, and ineens or holding the conveys;p b. verse "o me mmbS and mdWW 'be' in ongtudna ainemene with Said s Ween t e framemeinheis is fastened an The other features of my invention, ami l i sist mend. on 1o oth'sides of ythe e5 Se the details of construction and opeistion of istie? e movable Sist-s o, `o". is mcnmy grader are hereinafte iliiy desciii'aed. HOD@ Y g'lfif, 21S ShQWR in 'the iirewngs, Figure l is o top vienY of my es @fle 01 Guide C myyeld @lesencommonly arranged in pieesiee, aise show-A Sist u con ttes with hoth the ing the .tab-les .arranged ntathe henri ends A I 7' the ietter 'seing edjnst- 9e e thereof, and the tables aiz'enge nf: pend-entiy both their ends2 so the consecutive compartments oz" my i ie ginder' iney be edjuste as required f v receiving the graded finit or Vegeta' L -i e gmciingqwork to ne done. order 'g 2 is a' side elevation of my gemss; to efiee't the agustment of the movable siets Fig. 8 is e top View of the ways on which o, o', Al. use threaded bolts p, which hod 95 42; the nveyef heks are supported which esiti. siste speeed from the frame members muy the fruit through the grad-er; lfifng netsw alien' ehe spacing to he Fig.- 4 is a detail of construction of one readily edguste. These edjusting bolts are of the ivays illust-rating that the inner edges provided et both Skies of each movable Slat: of the ways may be provided with conseeu n the cent-rs1 'iXed'Sl n S mmmtd a Way i6@ tive recesses for the purpose o-makin' the 7'? and 0n iiil Of'th HOMME SS 0, o' spacesbetwe'en the Ways of uniform Width .iS IHC/unimi@ Wy 8.. The Opposed feces of between @Ongecutive pgvptitonsof the gradth@ Wy, 7', 3, 'hLVS all llWlv'dvn diilefas ing table; to the left of this gure is also illustrated by Figs. 5, 5, 7 eind 8, shown an end elevation oi this wey; V The fruit oi' Vegetebie to be giiade'd is ca-t 105 5G 5 isadetai showing-atop View of the fied 'forward through the grader by concenmi Way when my grader is consti-noted veyei belts t, t', t2, conveniently arrangefi as to have double capacity, which construction shown in Figs. 7 and 8. The eonveyer belts is that shown in the drawingee-j to the left t2 consist of e rope-iike belt u,to which of this figure is also shown an end eievation is fastened one side of :istrip of fabric w, V11o l 55 of this centra-1 Way; and the eonveyer belt y shown in Fig. 8,

Fig. 6 1s a cross section teken on the iine consists of e nopelike beit @f5 centraliyseprevent the cured to a strip of Jfabric w. ln order to hold the conveyer in longitudinal alinement with the ways over which they travel, in other words, from having` lateral movement on the faces of the Ways r, s, I provide each of the latter withy a longitudinal groove o, adapted for receiving the rope-like belts u, and provide the Way r with a groove o adapted for receiving the belt u. For the same purpose I also provide the belt carriers or rollers y' With peripheral grooves adapted for receiving the rope-like belts u, u.

The compartments in the grading table, as well as the bins on the sides thereof, are suitablyr upholstered as represented by az, 'to

fruit from being bruised.

The operation of my grader is illustrated in Fig. l. Let y represent pieces ot' the fruit. The inclined faces of the Ways, r, 3, will cause the fruit to roll between the ways on the conve-yer belts until the space between the opposed edges ot the conveyer belt is of sufiicient size to permit the fruit to drop through. In order to expedite the grading operation, l find it convenient to make the space between the consecutive sections of the Ways, extending between the partitions c of the compartments of the Grading table., of uniform width, so that the ttiruit, which is to be discharged into a conipartment, will fall therein shortly after the fruit has been moved over the partition. l accomplish this result by providing the opposed edges ot the Ways with consecutive recesses, e, as illustrated in Fig. fl. Such arrangement causes the spaces between sectiong of the Ways to be of uniform Width, notwithstanding that the movable slats 0, o

and the ways thereon mounted, are arranged at an oblique angle with respect to the central Way r supported on the central fixed slot n..

l claim:

l. ln a grader of the character described the combination of, a way having a sloping side and provided With a longitudinal groove in the. apex, a belt travelinur in such groove, and a lateral piece secure to said belt for which the sloping side of the Way forms'- a support.

In a grader of the character described the combination of ways having convergent sloping sides, a longitudinal groove on the apexes ot' said ways, belts traveling in such grooves and having lateral pieces, said sloping sides forming supports for said lateral pieces.

3. In a grader of the character described, the combination of ways having convergent sloping sides, a longitudinal groove on the apexes of said Ways, rope-like belts traveling` in said grooves and fabric strips secured Witnesses WM. C. SCHMITT, CECIL LONG.

to such belts, sloping sides forming sup-l 

